The Cuban Poster - Pride & Determination
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/ BLACKTAIL / Pier A. / NYC / / BLACKTAIL / 04 / THE CUBAN POSTER - PRIDE & DETERMINATION / LINCOLN CUSHING, BORN 1953, HAVANA, CUBA. Lincoln Cushing has at various times been a printer, artist, librarian, archivist, and author. He is involved in numerous efforts to document, catalog and disseminate oppositional political culture of the late 20th century. His books include Revolución! Cuban Poster Art (Chronicle Books, 2003), Visions of Peace & Justice: 30 Years of Political Posters from the Archives of Inkworks Press (2007), Chinese Posters: Art from the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (Chronicle Books 2007), Agitate! Educate! Organize! – American Labor Posters (Cornell University Press, 2009) and an illustrated essay in Ten Years That Shook The City – San Francisco 1968- 1978 (City Lights Books, 2011). He was the guest curator at the Oakland Museum of California for the 2012 exhibition All Of Us Or None – Poster Art of the San Francisco Bay Area, and author of a catalog by the same title (Heyday, 2012). His research and publishing projects can be seen at 04. PART FOUR www.docspopuli.org THE CUBAN POSTER PRIDE AND DETERMINATION by Lincoln Cushing LINCOLN CUSHING 64. 65. / BLACKTAIL / Pier A. / NYC / / BLACKTAIL / 04 / THE CUBAN POSTER - PRIDE & DETERMINATION / 01. 01. (ovpposite) “Neither Nations nor Men Respect Anyone Who Fails to Make Himself Respected” 1985, by Rene Mederos Pazos, for EP [DOR]. José Martí (1853-1895) was an author and Cuban patriot who dedicated his life to the overthrow of Spanish rule. He lived in exile in New York City from January 1880 to January 1895, where he founded a newspaper and a children’s magazine. 02. (overleaf) “Cuba 1952,” 1973, by René Mederos Pazos, for Editora Política [COR]. This visual exploration of the oppression suffered by the Cuban people under the Batista dictatorship is from the “Moncada” poster series. It is captioned with a quote from Fidel Castro’s “History Will Absolve Me” speech made in his own defense. Castro was on trial for his role in the failed attack on the military barracks on July 26, 1953, considered the beginning of the Cuban revolution: “To these people whose desperate roads through life have been paved with the bricks of betrayal and false promises, we were not going to say: ‘We will give you ...’ but rather: ‘Here it is, now fight for it with everything you have, so that liberty and happiness may be yours!’” 66. 67. / BLACKTAIL / Pier A. / NYC / / BLACKTAIL / 04 / THE CUBAN POSTER - PRIDE & DETERMINATION / 68. 69. / BLACKTAIL / Pier A. / NYC / / BLACKTAIL / 04 / THE CUBAN POSTER - PRIDE & DETERMINATION / Posters have played a long, distinguished and important role in public life in Cuba, going back as far as the start of the twentieth century. At that time, the immediacy of a poster was an essential element in a society where literacy rates were low. Poster art was art with a clear function: to deliver a message. Its clearest antecedents in the modern age – the so-called Republi- The Cuban Poster can era – are to be found in graphic arts magazines such as Carteles, which was founded in 1902 and remained in print until the 1960s. The Cuba has long occupied a world presence in several things far out of proportion to its size subject matter covered the usual range: theatrical performances and – tobacco, rum, and revolutionary politics. To those, we should also add posters. shows, seasonal and festive events, and of course, sales messages. The 2001 catalog for “Troubled Images,” an exhibition about the conflict in Northern Ireland After the Revolution in 1959, however, many of those subjects changed, at Belfast’s Linen Hall Library, postulates that “Political posters may be propaganda, but and artists were focusing on public issues and initiatives such as lit- they are as close to art as many in our society come.” There’s a lot we can learn about eracy drives, motivational or inspirational messages, political slogans Cuba from the massive outpouring of these vibrant works. Most were produced during the and public health advice. “Golden Age” of Cuban posters, the period from the late 1960s through the mid-1980s. It is this late development of the genre that concerns the following The posters offer a significant insight into Cuban life. Impressive as they are as artistic essay by Lincoln Cushing – an authority both on the history of the artifacts, their deeper value lies in their ability to help us understand the Cuba of this poster and of the particular life it has had in Cuba for the past fifty period. It was one of those historical moments when human capital was more important years or so. than financial capital, when public voluntarism was commonplace, and self-sacrifice expected. Social experimentation was the order of the day. Many people’s lives were fundamentally transformed, and old political struggles were resolved as new ones emerged. Cuba is a literate nation of eleven million people. Havana itself is a cosmopolitan capital of one million, and has been a cultural nexus between the Old World and the new ever since the “discovery” of the Americas in 1492. From the beginning, Cuban artists and intellectuals have been active in creating their own national culture. During the intense period before the 1959 revolution, artists of all stylistic persuasions were adding their skills to the overthrow of the dictator Fulgencio Batista. Afterwards, posters evolved to a world-class level. 70. 71. / BLACKTAIL / Pier A. / NYC / / BLACKTAIL / 04 / THE CUBAN POSTER - PRIDE & DETERMINATION / 03. (opposite) “First conference of UNEAC graphic design” 1979, by Francisco Masvidal Cubans take their revolutionary culture very seriously, as evidenced by this poster for the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba. 04. “Cut Until the Last Cane” 1971, by Gladys Acosta, for EP [COR]. Sugar and tobacco were Cuba’s colonial legacy monoculture crops, and remained very important in the post- revolutionary economy. The U.S. imported a third of its sugar from Cuba until the government imposed an economic embargo in 1960. Sugar beets grown elsewhere now rule, and Cuba’s world dominance has faded. This striking poster uses the text as a machete to cut the artistically-enhanced cane. 72. 73. / BLACKTAIL / Pier A. / NYC / / BLACKTAIL / 04 / THE CUBAN POSTER - PRIDE & DETERMINATION / It didn’t happen right away. In the years immediately following the Revolution there was the Department of Revolutionary Orientation (DOR, 1974–1984), and finally settled on no sign that this art form would blossom. Early public artwork was generally described Editora Política in 1985. This agency is responsible for a wide range of mostly domestic as unimaginative and hackneyed. In the words of one observer, “commercial standards public-information propaganda in the form of books, brochures, billboards and, of course, of realistic illustration of the Batista era were [simply] given a new political orientation.” posters. Many other government agencies used the resources and distribution powers of EP By the mid-1960s the Cubans managed to avoid mimicking the socialist realism typical for their own work, including the Federation of Cuban Women, the National Confederation of Soviet propaganda and were well on the way to establishing their own unique of Workers and the National Union of Students in Latin American and the Caribbean. style. Given that the two countries were in the process of building deep political and economic ties, this was a highly visible indicator of Cuban independence. Poster-making OSPAAAL (Organization in Solidarity with the People of Africa, Asia, and Latin America) blossomed because of a long tradition of international influence in Cuban artwork and is a United Nations non-governmental organization based in Havana. It was the primary a revolutionary government that was relatively open to experimentation and innovation. source of solidarity posters produced in Cuba and aimed at activists around the world. The poster producers Between 1966 and 1990, OSPAAAL published Tricontinental, a monthly magazine with a circulation that in 1989 peaked at 30,000 copies. Tricontinental was produced in English, Most Cuban posters have been produced under the auspices of three agencies: ICAIC (the Spanish, French, and Arabic, and was mailed to 87 countries. Many issues – especially Cuban Film and Cinematic Industries Institute, more commonly known as the Cuban during the early years – included a poster. This simple act, of violating the conventional Film Institute), Editora Política and OSPAAAL (the Organization in Solidarity with the formal purity of a poster by folding it up for mailing, was the key to what became the People of Africa, Asia, and Latin America). Although each agency developed its own area most effective worldwide poster distribution system ever. of specialization, individual artists often created work for all of them. Poster messaging ICAIC is responsible for producing posters for all films made in Cuba, as well as for foreign films shown in the country. Its posters have all been of identical size to fit in Cuban artists have used alternative and creative approaches to graphic representation, special kiosks throughout Havana and other cities. Movies have always been enormously producing a distinctive and rich poster genre. Rather than serving commercial interests, popular in Cuba, and before the Revolution, film posters, like the films themselves, these posters promote social services and community-building. National pride is a deep usually were designed and printed outside the country. Afterwards, ICAIC played a key underlying theme, honoring fallen patriots as well as movements and events. role in the emergence of a uniquely Cuban style of poster art. Saúl Yelin was a visionary publicist when ICAIC was created in March 1959, and he was instrumental in turning the International solidarity is an important part of the national culture, especially because fresh, new film institute into a significant international cultural presence.